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From:	Fade <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject:	GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 04:29:06 +0000

Message no. 1 I have a slight problem.

As a GM I find the epic kinds of campaigns a lot more fun to GM.
Large sweeping stuff with a little heroics and dread enemies and so
on. Great. One of my players wants a little comic relief
occassionally, which is fine by me.

Except I'm not good at it at all.

What should I do about it? Give it my best shot? (Anyone got any
clues for how to proceed?) Ignore it? What?

Another detail..

I especially find it hard to make interesting stupid people (at least
intentionally).. or for that matter, people supposed to be smarter
than I am. I also have a problem with people whose views I cannot
sympathize with. I managed to portray a wasp queen once
extremely successfully; one of the players commented that she was
'a completely alien intelligence'.. but then, I can sympathize with
the insect spirits. The player in question can't, after that
conversation he went totally anti - bug, threw away his runner
career and hunted bugs full time... . Nazis, or similar groups of
people, though, is harder to portray, IMHO, without making
caricatures. I want believable characters, not caricatures. Things
aren't black and white.. or so I usually think.

Saw a Jerry Springer show about "I'm a racist!" or whatever. Pretty
strange people.... I cannot understand how minds like that work.

How can a woman say, "My duty to my race is to have as many children
as I can!" ? I see the logic, just not how anyone could believe it.
Or claim that homosexuals are a heavily favored group of people.. or
say, "If I apply for a job and a (insert racial slur) gets the job, I
can't even sue him for it!"...

Reality is, in some cases, far worse than my imagination. And I have
been told I have an extremely grotesque imagination.

--
Fade

And the Prince of Lies said:
"To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven."
-John Milton, Paradise Lost

From:	Michael Vander Donk <mdonk@******.OZ.AU>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 13:24:33 +1000

Message no. 2 Fade[SMTP:runefo@***.UIO.NO] wrote:
> I have a slight problem.
>
> As a GM I find the epic kinds of campaigns a lot more fun to GM.
> Large sweeping stuff with a little heroics and dread enemies and so
> on. Great. One of my players wants a little comic relief
> occassionally, which is fine by me.
>
> Except I'm not good at it at all.
>
> What should I do about it? Give it my best shot? (Anyone got any
> clues for how to proceed?) Ignore it? What?
>

Start small... Make a few runs that could be linked together (by any
means... even if it's very slim link like in each run the players killed
a fish....) After those first few. Start to bring things back from
previous games (the fish monger is very annoyed... ;-) etc.
Now it helps if you have an idea in mind. Something vague that you can
push into the runs (their Mr J. is working for SK. The players annoyed
SK in their first run, Bugs. Dragons etc. etc.)
There is no need to make the whole story at once (I can't. every one of
my runs are different. but all past actions can come back to haunt the
PC's...)

As for comic relief. Either make the occasional run to really test the
professionalism of the PC's, or throw in an occasional 1 liner in
conversations (tho not too many else the players will treat it all like
a joke (which is of course not good... ;-))

> Another detail..
>
> I especially find it hard to make interesting stupid people (at least
> intentionally).. or for that matter, people supposed to be smarter
> than I am. I also have a problem with people whose views I cannot
> sympathize with. I managed to portray a wasp queen once
> extremely successfully; one of the players commented that she was
> 'a completely alien intelligence'.. but then, I can sympathize with
> the insect spirits. The player in question can't, after that
> conversation he went totally anti - bug, threw away his runner
> career and hunted bugs full time... . Nazis, or similar groups of
> people, though, is harder to portray, IMHO, without making
> caricatures. I want believable characters, not caricatures. Things
> aren't black and white.. or so I usually think.
>

To intelligence greater than yours. You can't really do it.. The best
thing is planning. Sit down. Think of every situation you can an map
what they will do. Write it down. When the PC's are playing they will
think up something you didn't. Be aware of this. Always stay thinking 1
step ahead of the players (even if that includes changing the game...) I
have had players state the whole plot after talking to their Mr J. It
was just a simple off the cuff statement by a player of what was going
to happen. So I moved things around a bit, and they were non the
wiser... :-)

You dont have to sympathize with the group/queen/person. You just have
to know how they think/feel in different situations. You say things are
not black and white. You are correct. tho many people will argue with
you over that point.
As an example. I quite like spiders (as this is a recent thread), and
have a spider friendly house. I wasn't always like this. They used to
scare me silly, so I'd kill them on sight. Doing that now make me feel
bad ("what did it do to me... how would I feel if... blahblahblah")...
So with this example I can bring up the memory of hating spiders, and
relate that to any other object. Everyone has fears and dislikes. Bring
those feelings out in relation to the characters ideals.
Also helpful is giving the characters a reason for the feeling...
(mother died from bug, forced to eat rotting fish by orcs etc etc
etc....)

Hope that helps...
Naga.

--
What's the difference between a duck? One of it's legs are both the
same.
Flop Flip Flop

From:	David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 08:33:20 -0600

Message no. 3 Fade wrote:
|
| I have a slight problem.
|
| One of my players wants a little comic relief
| occassionally, which is fine by me.
|
| Except I'm not good at it at all.
|
| What should I do about it? Give it my best shot? (Anyone got any
| clues for how to proceed?) Ignore it? What?

Comedy. Hm... The basic premise of comedy is the absurd. Like the
recently posted story about the russians dropping a cow on a japanese
trawler :) As long as you're an observer, its funny. If you're the
perpetrator of such an act, you may or may not find it funny. If
you're the target of such an act it usually isn't funny.

I'll give you some examples of some of the funny things that have
happened by design in the group I play in.

Last night we were playing AD$D (yes, I still like that game) when my
character killed the horse that the evil NPC was riding. We we're
both flying about 300 feet above the ground at the time (my character
had boots of flying and the NPC's horse was able to fly). The NPC
was also using some powerful mace that had the ability to
disintigrate/drain a person. "The horse dies and plumets, carrying
the black knight with it, his arms flaying madly as he curses your
ancestory. When they hit the ground you see a puff of dirt and a
bright flash, followed by a crack of thunder. After investigating
you find only the remains of the dead horse in a small blackened
crater." We finally figured out that the knight had fallen on his
mace when he hit the ground and the mace had disrupted/drained him
and destroyed itself in the process (since he was holding it). We
considered that to be pretty funny.

In a shadowrun game I was running the runners were taking a cab to
their hotel in New York City. I roleplayed the taxi driver as one of
those guys that loves talking to his customers, telling them about
all the good restaurants, etc, when the driver of a car that's
following them starts firing at his cab. The driver flicked the
nitro switch and floored the accelerator, and veered off the road
into Central Park. The PCs were pressed into the back seat from the
acceleration as the cabbie dodged hot dog stands, joggers, trees, hit
a mime (funny), cussing a blue streak the entire time. Miraculously
the driver of the other car kept up. The driving of the cabbie was
so eratic that the PCs chose to just hang on and try to rid it out.
As the cabbie avoided a troup of shakesperian actors one of the PCs
saw a helicopter appear behind the other car, someone lean out of the
helicopter and fire a rocket into the other car, destroying it in a
ball of fire, after which the helicopter turned and flew away. The
cabbie came out of the park, hit the road, did a 180 and ended up in
front of the PCs hotel. After the PCs got out the cabbie said,
"Thankyouverymuchhaveaniceday." and left tracks of rubber as he
peeled off. I put the players in the right mood when the taxi hit
the mime. After that it was like a roller coaster ride for them
where they just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Also in my shadowrun game the character had split up. All of them
had radios to communicate with eachother. One had been captured and
the other one was pinned down by a drone. The captured one was told
to tell his teamate to surrender or else the drone would kill him.
The capturee related this information. The pinned PC said no
problem, he would surrender. The capturee responded, "Don't do it
man, just put the gun down." (giving the enemy the impression that
the pinned PC wasn't going to surrender). The pinned PC had a fit,
called the capturee all manner of names, untill the capturee finally
broke down in a fit of laughter, leaving me to figure out just how
confused the NPCs were. That was funny to me and the rest of the
players (and the player with the pinned PC got over it).

Anyway, the point is to create some absurd situations/events every
now and then. You can plan them ahead, or come up with them on the
fly. And it works best when it happens to an NPC.

Also, it's up to your players to contribute and create their own
comedy too.

Hope that helped :)

-David
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
--
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing
which ones to keep."

From:	David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 08:45:35 -0600

Message no. 4 Fade wrote:
|
| I especially find it hard to make interesting stupid people (at least
| intentionally)..

Please excuse the generalizations that follow.

Stupid people are usually very emotional. What they lack in
intelligence the make up for in reactivity. Some get angry very
quickly (it's the world's fault that it can't be understood). Some
are very happy (they don't understand what's wrong with anything).
Some are very depressed (they know they aren't very smart). Usually
it's a combination. And in general stupid people have very reactive
emotions. Just mix and match and roleplay it.

| or for that matter, people supposed to be smarter
| than I am.

Here are three types of smart people.

The collector of information: this person knows everything esoteric and
shows off by letting everybody know what he knows (the character Cliff from
the US TV show Cheers is a perfect example). To roleplay this one you just
have to do a little research and come up with some odd facts throw at the
PCs.

The tech: this person's knowledge is confined to a specific field. To
roleplay this person you can do some research to acquire some odd facts, or
just tell the players that the NPC is rambling on about <subject> and they
don't have any idea what he's saying.

The ego: this person knows that he's smart, and knows that everyone else
is to stupid to understand him, so he doesn't even try to pass on what he
knows. He'll either blow other people off, "You wouldn't understand, trust
me <sneer>." or he'll do the job himself, "Here, give me that. What do
you want to do, kill us all. I'll take care of it. Why don't you just
stand over there and try not to do anything stupid."

The teacher: this person believes that everyone has the capability to
understand what he does, and is willing to take the time to pass on what he
knows. This one is a bitch to roleplay, because you have to understand
whatever it is that the NPC understands. Or at least have a passing
knowledge of the subject that you can fake it.

-David
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
--
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing
which ones to keep."

From:	David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 08:59:53 -0600

Message no. 5 Fade wrote:
|
| I also have a problem with people whose views I cannot
| sympathize with. I managed to portray a wasp queen once
| extremely successfully; one of the players commented that she was
| 'a completely alien intelligence'.. but then, I can sympathize with
| the insect spirits. The player in question can't, after that
| conversation he went totally anti - bug, threw away his runner
| career and hunted bugs full time... . Nazis, or similar groups of
| people, though, is harder to portray, IMHO, without making
| caricatures. I want believable characters, not caricatures. Things
| aren't black and white.. or so I usually think.

For alien views, check out animal behaviour and pattern the NPC after that.
Also, some psychological disorders provide a good basis.

For Nazis and similar groups see my other post on stupid people. The
person/people in question are not smart enough (or to stubborn) to take the
time to figure out what's really going on. They just react emotionally and
let their emotions guide them.

| How can a woman say, "My duty to my race is to have as many children
| as I can!" ? I see the logic, just not how anyone could believe it.
| Or claim that homosexuals are a heavily favored group of people.. or
| say, "If I apply for a job and a (insert racial slur) gets the job, I
| can't even sue him for it!"...

Brain washing. The woman was raised to believe that her duty is to
have children. And she doesn't have a strong enough ego to counter
that. Also, staying home and raising the children isn't a bad thing,
so it's hard to counter that sort of belief.

As for the racist behavior it comes down to stupity or stubborn
ignorance and a failure to accept responsibility for one's own life.

And one last point. Don't be afraid to use caracatures from time to
time. They make for great comedy. Having the the PC responding to
the knock on the door to find two large gentlemen in pin strip suits
with thick italian accents "ask" the PC to accompany them to Fat
Tony's limo downstairs is usually worth a suppressed giggle :)

And the stereotypical skinhead/humanis member, crying out the need
for racial purity, can really get a reaction out of the players and
make for some serious roleplaying (try to see if you can get the PCs
to geek the guy <EGMG>).

-David
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
--
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing
which ones to keep."

From:	Fade <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 19:22:07 +0000

Message no. 6 > Here are three types of smart people.
*snip*
> The teacher: this person believes that everyone has the capability to
> understand what he does, and is willing to take the time to pass on what he
> knows. This one is a bitch to roleplay, because you have to understand
> whatever it is that the NPC understands. Or at least have a passing
> knowledge of the subject that you can fake it.

Yup, that one's the problem.

The real problem is that one of my players insist on having a few
such as contacts. What are they so skilled in? Taoism, karate, that
sort of thing. I don't know shit about it, and he's studying it real
hard.

--
Fade

And the Prince of Lies said:
"To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell:
Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven."
-John Milton, Paradise Lost

From:	"Wendy Wanders, Subject 117" <KGGEWEHR@******.ACS.MUOHIO.EDU>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 13:37:43 -0500

Message no. 7 You wrote:
> The real problem is that one of my players insist on having a few
> such as contacts. What are they so skilled in? Taoism, karate, that
> sort of thing. I don't know shit about it, and he's studying it real
> hard.
Explain this fact to the player. I have as a player on numerous occasions
explained rules out to less-experienced GMs when they asked, this is sorta the
same thing. If he realizes you can't play the role maybe then *he* can play
the Taoist or find ways around that NPC actually spouting long Taoist speeches
in game play to make your life easier. It is as much the player's
responsibility to make the GM's life easy as it is the GM's job to do a good
job roleplaying.

losthalo

From:	Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 22:18:56 +0100

Message no. 8 David Buehrer said on 8:45/18 Sep 97...

> Here are three types of smart people.

Are people who can't count part of the stupid types or the smart types,
David? :)

> The collector of information: [snip]
> The tech: [snip]
> The ego: [snip]
> The teacher: [snip]

IMHO there are also combinations of these four, which is harder to play
convincingly, so you might want to stick with the basic ones. For example,
a tech/teacher: someone who knows a lot about a single field and has the
capacities to make others understand it. (I was going to say that one of
my old physics teachers would be a good example here, but on second
thoughts he was more of a tech/ego combo with an irritating
pronunciation...)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Zijn generatie twijfelt, maar weet niet eens waaraan.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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From:	Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 22:18:57 +0100

Message no. 9 Fade said on 19:22/18 Sep 97...

> The real problem is that one of my players insist on having a few
> such as contacts. What are they so skilled in? Taoism, karate, that
> sort of thing. I don't know shit about it, and he's studying it real
> hard.

The player is studying these things IRL? Fine, let him do the thinking for
you, and then pick what you like from his explanations. That'll certainly
get him more involved with his character, but you may want to be careful
he doesn't try to abuse this "power."

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Zijn generatie twijfelt, maar weet niet eens waaraan.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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From:	David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 14:46:08 -0600

Message no. 10 Gurth wrote:
|
| David Buehrer said on 8:45/18 Sep 97...
|
| > Here are three types of smart people.
|
| Are people who can't count part of the stupid types or the smart types,
| David? :)
|
| > The collector of information: [snip]
| > The tech: [snip]
| > The ego: [snip]
| > The teacher: [snip]

Okay, so when I started writing it I had three in mind, then thought
of the fourth part way through, and didn't catch my error :)

| IMHO there are also combinations of these four, which is harder to play
| convincingly, so you might want to stick with the basic ones.

What's really fun are the combinations of stupid and intelligent.
The computer wiz with a high ego that's socially incompitent and
blames the pretty elves as the reason that he can't get a date.

-David
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
--
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing
which ones to keep."

From:	Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 17:25:14 EST

Message no. 11 > | > Here are three types of smart people.
> |
> | Are people who can't count part of the stupid types or the smart types,
> | David? :)

No, there are only two types of people. Those who think there are
only two types, and those that don't.

-=SwiftOne=-

(Note that the dumb people are the ones trying to come up with
exceptions to that rather than just enjoying it :) )

From:	Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Thu, 18 Sep 1997 17:28:53 EST

Message no. 12 > That'll certainly get him more involved with his character, but you
> may want to be careful he doesn't try to abuse this "power."

Yeah, I had one player try this with me, but it turned out he was
only convinced that h eknew all this, and he really was a total
ignoramus. ("Honest, these guys can use anything as a deadly weapon.
I'd say that sheet of paper could slit a throat, so make it 9S
damage!"). Hrmppph.

Of course, this is the same guy that loaned me some Palladium book
*(Ninjas and superspies??) to show me the differences in Martial
arts. Rather than useful things like ("Akido is mainly defensive in
nature. Judo specializes in throws, etc") it had about 23 different
forms of staggering like you're drunk, barking like a dog, and
rolling on the ground. All useful against one ganger opponent, all
useless when trying to develop a system.

From:	George H Metz <wolfstar@****.COM>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Sat, 20 Sep 1997 02:25:55 EDT

Message no. 13 On Thu, 18 Sep 1997 14:46:08 -0600 David Buehrer <dbuehrer@****.ORG>
writes:
>
>What's really fun are the combinations of stupid and intelligent.
>The computer wiz with a high ego that's socially incompitent and
>blames the pretty elves as the reason that he can't get a date.

I do NOT blame the elves!!!! Oh, you weren't talking about me.
Nevermind. =)

This also works with the standard, everybody loves 'em, absent-minded
professor types, or also what we dubbed "True Blondes"(kinda like True
Bugs, except that they aren't used in ED orichalcum =) ), those rare
individuals who are acing college-level physics in high school, and has
also been known to do a "start, stop, start, stop" at a blinking red
light. (I know a girl that really IS like this!)

--
Wolfstar - wolfstar@****.com - Home Page -
http://members.aol.com/w0lfstar

"If you took the IQ's of everyone here and converted it to a temperature,
you could lightly toast a marshmallow." - CHS Class of '93 Yearbook
quote.

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From:	George H Metz <wolfstar@****.COM>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Sat, 20 Sep 1997 02:25:55 EDT

Message no. 14 On Thu, 18 Sep 1997 17:28:53 EST Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU> writes:
>
>Of course, this is the same guy that loaned me some Palladium book
>*(Ninjas and superspies??) to show me the differences in Martial
>arts. Rather than useful things like ("Akido is mainly defensive in
>nature. Judo specializes in throws, etc") it had about 23 different
>forms of staggering like you're drunk, barking like a dog, and
>rolling on the ground. All useful against one ganger opponent, all
>useless when trying to develop a system.

Believe it or not, those styles all exist in some form or another. Or,
at least the name does. My friend's sister sat down and flipped through
it(she's a ninjitsu student) and in under a minute she was crying from
laughing too hard.
On the up side, it's got some neat cyberstuff, check out the
cyberdisguises if you still have access to a copy.

--
Wolfstar - wolfstar@****.com - Home Page -
http://members.aol.com/w0lfstar

"If you took the IQ's of everyone here and converted it to a temperature,
you could lightly toast a marshmallow." - CHS Class of '93 Yearbook
quote.

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From:	David Thompson <david.s.thompson@****.EDU>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Sat, 20 Sep 1997 14:47:39 -0400

Message no. 15 >On Thu, 18 Sep 1997 17:28:53 EST Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU> writes:
>>
>>Of course, this is the same guy that loaned me some Palladium book
>>*(Ninjas and superspies??) to show me the differences in Martial
>>arts. Rather than useful things like ("Akido is mainly defensive in
>>nature. Judo specializes in throws, etc") it had about 23 different
>>forms of staggering like you're drunk, barking like a dog, and
>>rolling on the ground. All useful against one ganger opponent, all
>>useless when trying to develop a system.
>
> Believe it or not, those styles all exist in some form or another. Or,
>at least the name does. My friend's sister sat down and flipped through
>it(she's a ninjitsu student) and in under a minute she was crying from
>laughing too hard.
> On the up side, it's got some neat cyberstuff, check out the
>cyberdisguises if you still have access to a copy.
>

IIRC, the book includes characterizations/generalizations about all the
different martial arts styles it discusses. Most of them are fairly
accurate (for the general statements they are), and quite helpful in
determining the mindsets of the practitioners of the various arts. (And
that drunken style stuff is cool too!) -- Can anyone tell that I started
out in RPG's playing Palladium? Robotech baby, that was the stuff!

--DT

From:	George H Metz <wolfstar@****.COM>
Subject:	Re: GM'ing 101
Date:	Mon, 22 Sep 1997 04:13:13 EDT

Message no. 16 On Sat, 20 Sep 1997 14:47:39 -0400 David Thompson
<david.s.thompson@****.EDU> writes:
>
>IIRC, the book includes characterizations/generalizations about all the
>different martial arts styles it discusses. Most of them are fairly
>accurate (for the general statements they are), and quite helpful in
>determining the mindsets of the practitioners of the various arts. (And
>that drunken style stuff is cool too!) -- Can anyone tell that I started
>out in RPG's playing Palladium? Robotech baby, that was the stuff!

Actually, some of the generalizations on the more obscure arts were what
had my friend's sister laughing so hard. The more well-known forms are
about as accurate in description as they can get, but the advancements
are way out of proportion.
Oh, and two words: Ghost Ship. =)

--
Wolfstar - wolfstar@****.com - Home Page -
http://members.aol.com/w0lfstar

"If you took the IQ's of everyone here and converted it to a temperature,
you could lightly toast a marshmallow." - CHS Class of '93 Yearbook
quote.

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!V PS+ PE+ Y+ PGP t+ 5+++ X R++ tv+ b+(+++) DI++ D--- G e h!-- r*
y+/-(--)
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From:	David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject:	Re: GMing 101
Date:	Tue, 23 Dec 1997 12:53:08 -0700

Message no. 17 Gurth wrote:
/
/ On a related note, there appears to be an article in a recent Inquest
/ for first-time GMs or something. I don't usually read that magazine, but
/ one of my players mentioned it after he GMed for our group last Friday. It
/ seems he took some hints from that in order to try and make a good
/ adventure, and it turned out to go more or less in the opposite direction.
/
/ As I understand it, it talks about inspiring fear into the PCs, by using
/ people so obviously powerful that the PCs do what they want. His attempts
/ to follow this advice only annoyed us, though.

I read that article and learned a few things. However it applied to
knowledge and experience I already had. The article is actually a
200 level course on GMing and isn't worth a damn if you don't have
the basics.

The semi-phenomal NPC shouldn't be used to get the PCs do what you
want. They should be used as background to set the stage for an
event (encounter, adventure, campaign). Take the movie Dragon
Slayer. It had a nigh invulnerable dragon. The goal of the main
character was to fight and kill the dragon. Along the way he fell in
love and learned some wisdom and how the world works. He didn't
actually end up fighting the dragon and played a small role in
defeating it. The dragon seemed central to the story because of it's
awesome presence, but it wasn't really.

Terminator is another good example where you're tricked into focusing
on the Terminator, but it's just a vehicle for Sarah to have a night
of passion so that she can become pregnant with the savior of the
earth.

/ Now I'm wondering if anyone
/ knows whether there's anything on the web that resembles a "GMing 101"
/ guide, not aimed at a specific game but more at new GMs in general. Giving
/ him something like that to read would save me some time in explaining the
/ basics...

Not that I know of. The trick is to understand the basics so that
you can explain them. I consider myself a fair GM but I can't think
of how I would go about training a newbie GM. Anyone got any ideas?
:)

-David
--
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep."
--
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm

From:	Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject:	Re: GMing 101
Date:	Wed, 24 Dec 1997 12:14:24 +0100

Message no. 18 David Buehrer said on 12:53/23 Dec 97...

> I read that article and learned a few things. However it applied to
> knowledge and experience I already had. The article is actually a
> 200 level course on GMing and isn't worth a damn if you don't have
> the basics.

That would explain some things about why the adventure didn't go all that
well. I'll probably need to borrow his copy of that Inquest and read the
article myself.

> The semi-phenomal NPC shouldn't be used to get the PCs do what you
> want. They should be used as background to set the stage for an
> event (encounter, adventure, campaign).

As per Harlequin. My player is doing more or less the opposite, it seems
to me. Wherever we go (currently Madagascar), some or another fragger
called Gerard appears out of nowhere, and from what he does, he appears to
be among the world's top 10 magicians. This isn't helped by the GM
accidentally using the word "harlequin" (well, the Dutch translation of it
anyway) to refer to him.

I get the impression that the PCs (me included :) just want to kill this
guy to get him to stop irritating us...

> Not that I know of. The trick is to understand the basics so that
> you can explain them. I consider myself a fair GM but I can't think
> of how I would go about training a newbie GM. Anyone got any ideas?
> :)

I've given him some advice after his first GMing session, which was mainly
to try and be more flexible. He was pushing us into the direction he
wanted us to go, and when we did something unexpected, or well, tried to
anyway, it never worked, from time to time claiming he hadn't planned for
that. It turned out he'd written down how he wanted things to go, in way
too much detail. One of the main bits of advice for new GMs from me is
therefore not to plan too much -- just the overall storyline of the
adventure, and try to improvise the details when the need for them arises.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html - UIN5044116
There are two things you can do...
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

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From:	David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject:	Re: GMing 101
Date:	Wed, 24 Dec 1997 08:01:45 -0700

Message no. 19 Gurth wrote:
/
/ David Buehrer said on 12:53/23 Dec 97...
/
/ > The semi-phenomal NPC shouldn't be used to get the PCs do what you
/ > want. They should be used as background to set the stage for an
/ > event (encounter, adventure, campaign).
/
/ As per Harlequin. My player is doing more or less the opposite, it seems
/ to me. Wherever we go (currently Madagascar), some or another fragger
/ called Gerard appears out of nowhere, and from what he does, he appears to
/ be among the world's top 10 magicians. This isn't helped by the GM
/ accidentally using the word "harlequin" (well, the Dutch translation of it
/ anyway) to refer to him.
/
/ I get the impression that the PCs (me included :) just want to kill this
/ guy to get him to stop irritating us...

Eh, that's a common first time GM mistake. Thankfully he's got a
master to show him the ropes :)

/ I've given him some advice after his first GMing session, which was mainly
/ to try and be more flexible. He was pushing us into the direction he
/ wanted us to go, and when we did something unexpected, or well, tried to
/ anyway, it never worked, from time to time claiming he hadn't planned for
/ that. It turned out he'd written down how he wanted things to go, in way
/ too much detail. One of the main bits of advice for new GMs from me is
/ therefore not to plan too much -- just the overall storyline of the
/ adventure, and try to improvise the details when the need for them arises.

Tell him to think of it as a food fight. It's his job to throw stuff
at the PCs :) He should start off by under-throwing until he gets a
feel for it. Most GMs start off by tossing way to much in the
blender that is a campaign.

-David
--
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep."
--
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm

From:	Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject:	Re: GMing 101
Date:	Wed, 24 Dec 1997 20:21:56 +0100

Message no. 20 David Buehrer said on 8:01/24 Dec 97...

> Eh, that's a common first time GM mistake. Thankfully he's got a
> master to show him the ropes :)

Why does everyone think I'm such a great GM? None of you has ever even met
me, let alone played in a game I GMed! :)

> Tell him to think of it as a food fight. It's his job to throw stuff
> at the PCs :) He should start off by under-throwing until he gets a
> feel for it. Most GMs start off by tossing way to much in the
> blender that is a campaign.

Could be true, though I get the impression he has the opposition about
right (or at least knows when to weaken it sufficiently when he's made
it too strong), but he planned the adventure too rigidly. Oh well, he'll
learn if he wants to.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html - UIN5044116
There are two things you can do...
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
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------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

From:	Protokol13 Protokol13@********.com
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Fri, 05 Mar 1999 00:35:27 -0500

Message no. 21 I've heard some discussions about whether Deckers are better, or Sammy's
are better.... The truth is that the GM should make a fun game for EVERY
player, and if the GM does his homework, every type of character will
feel like he/she has something to offer... The GM should sit back, and
think:
"If this were a movie, how would I make these characters look cool."

This is a 2 sided process, because the GM should also talk to the
players, and realize their dreams in his own head. Not everyone has to
be a killing machine to be an interesting and fun character. Plus, I
don't see any way of saying that someone armed to the teeth is a *good*
Shadowrunner. I would think that by now, most people would realize that
such characters should not worry about paying for a LIFEstyle. Perhaps
paying for an appropriate coffin type would be more fitting (no pun
intended).

'nuff said, and get back to sleep. ;)

--
-=PrOtoKol13=-
ICQ: 17589925

From:	Kyoto the Angel dann1@********.erols.com
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Fri, 5 Mar 1999 02:07:59 -0500

Message no. 22 -----Original Message-----
From: Protokol13 <Protokol13@********.com>
To: shadowrn@*********.org <shadowrn@*********.org>
Date: Friday, March 05, 1999 12:35 AM
Subject: GMing 101

>I've heard some discussions about whether Deckers are better, or Sammy's
>are better.... The truth is that the GM should make a fun game for EVERY
>player, and if the GM does his homework, every type of character will
>feel like he/she has something to offer... The GM should sit back, and
>think:
>"If this were a movie, how would I make these characters look cool."
>
>This is a 2 sided process, because the GM should also talk to the
>players, and realize their dreams in his own head. Not everyone has to
>be a killing machine to be an interesting and fun character. Plus, I
>don't see any way of saying that someone armed to the teeth is a *good*
>Shadowrunner. I would think that by now, most people would realize that
>such characters should not worry about paying for a LIFEstyle. Perhaps
>paying for an appropriate coffin type would be more fitting (no pun
>intended).
>
>'nuff said, and get back to sleep. ;)
>
>
>--
I think the big problem, (for a lot of GMs, I'd think) is when there's one
decker in the party, and everyone else has to sit there while the guy does
his decking, not much fun for the rest of the players

Kyoto the Angel
AIM: AngelKyoto
ICQ: 29713335

From:	David Buehrer dbuehrer@******.carl.org
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Fri, 5 Mar 1999 08:37:21 -0700 (MST)

Message no. 23 Kyoto the Angel wrote:
/
/ I think the big problem, (for a lot of GMs, I'd think) is when there's one
/ decker in the party, and everyone else has to sit there while the guy does
/ his decking, not much fun for the rest of the players

I blame it on the way (most) adventures are written.

With most adventures if there's any decking to be done it doesn't
require the involvement of the rest of the party, and in most cases the
party has to wait until the decker is done before they can move on to
the next event.

IMHO adventures should be written to include the decker.

This is as simple as creating a building with a security system that must
be attacked from cyberspace by the decker *while* the rest of the part
invades the building, all while coordinating with eachother.

Anyone have any other ideas for including the decker?

-David B.
--
"Earn what you have been given."
--
ShadowRN GridSec
email: dbuehrer@******.carl.org
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm

From:	Kyoto the Angel dann1@********.erols.com
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Fri, 5 Mar 1999 12:11:32 -0500

Message no. 24 -----Original Message-----
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.carl.org>
To: shadowrn@*********.org <shadowrn@*********.org>
Date: Friday, March 05, 1999 10:37 AM
Subject: Re: GMing 101

>Kyoto the Angel wrote:
>/
>/ I think the big problem, (for a lot of GMs, I'd think) is when there's
one
>/ decker in the party, and everyone else has to sit there while the guy
does
>/ his decking, not much fun for the rest of the players
>
>I blame it on the way (most) adventures are written.
>
>With most adventures if there's any decking to be done it doesn't
>require the involvement of the rest of the party, and in most cases the
>party has to wait until the decker is done before they can move on to
>the next event.
>
>IMHO adventures should be written to include the decker.
>
>This is as simple as creating a building with a security system that must
>be attacked from cyberspace by the decker *while* the rest of the part
>invades the building, all while coordinating with eachother.
>
>Anyone have any other ideas for including the decker?
>
I'd have to agree, that's a pretty good idea, as it would simply involve the
same "camera-switching" as my GM likes to call it, that we end up doing any
time that we're not all in one place

Kyoto the Angel
AIM: AngelKyoto
ICQ: 29713335

From:	Ereskanti@*.com Ereskanti@*.com
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Fri, 5 Mar 1999 13:35:25 EST

Message no. 25 In a message dated 3/5/1999 10:36:59 AM US Eastern Standard Time,
dbuehrer@******.carl.org writes:

>
> Anyone have any other ideas for including the decker?

Decker with Encephalon and the party with multiple mini-cams and/or better
grade gear. This can get everyone into an informational exchange, AND, it can
let the decker find the access ports the fastest where possible.

Thoughts?

Why doesn't anyone include the "cybereye" concept into a mini-cam of sorts,
then get that damn "Optic Datajack" for the thing. Each member carries a
small handful (say 2-3) of the visual receptors. Where-ever the party goes,
one of these special little cams goes as well. The decker gets a relay point,
and the possibility of jacking into more fun stuff. IF the people are wearing
armor, then consider them as a type of drone on a "tracking mount", such that
whenever the tracking mount/eye picks up one of those receptors, or anything
else with a similar receptor-quality, it will point the eye in that direction
*without* the person wearing it/carrying it having to always be tangled up
pointing the thing in the *right* direction all the time.

Damn it, I think it's time this weekend to actually do those cyberlimb rules
up for real.

-K

From:	Protokol13 Protokol13@********.com
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Fri, 05 Mar 1999 18:00:05 -0500

Message no. 26 Kyoto the Angel wrote:

> I'd have to agree, that's a pretty good idea, as it would simply involve the
> same "camera-switching" as my GM likes to call it, that we end up doing any
> time that we're not all in one place

I don't just let the decker do his "stuff" while everyone else sits around. I
usually flip between characters and check on them. Better yet, I sometimes have
the characters develop their personalities, by talking things over, while I'm
minding the Decker. I also include a lot of missions that need the decker on
site, which results in the decker worrying about Black IC and bullet holes all
at the same time!
--

-=PrOtoKol13=-
ICQ: 17589925

From:	Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Sat, 6 Mar 1999 13:52:30 +0100

Message no. 27 According to David Buehrer, at 8:37 on 5 Mar 99, the word on
the street was...

> Anyone have any other ideas for including the decker?

One thing I'm planning on doing with my character (as soon as I get the
money for it together :) is the trick Case and Molly used in Neuromancer:
give another team-member a simrig to wear, and hook that up to my
cyberdeck, then switch between the simrig and the Matrix as needed.
Unfortunately a simlink costs more money that I have ATM :(

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Hoera, we leven nog!
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998

From:	GMPax@*.com GMPax@*.com
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Sat, 6 Mar 1999 11:33:54 EST

Message no. 28 In a message dated 3/6/99 8:12:02 AM Eastern Standard Time, gurth@******.nl
writes:

> One thing I'm planning on doing with my character (as soon as I get the
> money for it together :) is the trick Case and Molly used in Neuromancer:
> give another team-member a simrig to wear, and hook that up to my
> cyberdeck, then switch between the simrig and the Matrix as needed.
> Unfortunately a simlink costs more money that I have ATM :(

Basically, a snake eyes system. Look into the snake eyes implant instead, and
a rigger protocol emulation module for your deck. May prove more cost-
effective, as well as useful, in the long run. Even the rigger (if you have
one) could borrow a peek at the snake eyes equipped runner's POV.

From:	Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Sat, 6 Mar 1999 11:29:29 -0600

Message no. 29 :IMHO adventures should be written to include the decker.

I think FASA writters didn't want to get stuck REQUIRING a group of
players to have a certain character type.

:This is as simple as creating a building with a security system that must
:be attacked from cyberspace by the decker *while* the rest of the part
:invades the building, all while coordinating with eachother.
:
:Anyone have any other ideas for including the decker?
:
:-David B.

If you KNOW you have a decker, you can make the run center around
something they can do, and have the "physical insertion" part be secondary
to it- something along the lines of doing legwork for the decker. Maybe
they could break in somewhere and find some info the decker needs to
complete a matrix run (or even find out that a certain comp exists, and
where on the matrix it is). Unfortunatly, that still keeps the two parts
pretty seperate, but I see no real way to avoid that- decking IS an (more
or less) individual activity, and occurs in a diffrent "location" than
normal activity.

Mongoose

From:	Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Sat, 6 Mar 1999 20:44:35 +0100

Message no. 30 According to GMPax@***.com, at 11:33 on 6 Mar 99, the word on
the street was...

> Basically, a snake eyes system. Look into the snake eyes implant instead, and
> a rigger protocol emulation module for your deck. May prove more cost-
> effective, as well as useful, in the long run. Even the rigger (if you have
> one) could borrow a peek at the snake eyes equipped runner's POV.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention the campaign is set in 2051 ATM (we started in
2050) so none of that stuff exists yet... It might also be a slight
problem getting magicians to have this kind of cyberware installed in
their bodies, whereas getting them to wear a simrig won't be quite as much
trouble (I hope :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Hoera, we leven nog!
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998

From:	Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject:	GMing 101
Date:	Sat, 6 Mar 1999 14:16:55 -0600

Message no. 31 > Basically, a snake eyes system. Look into the snake eyes implant
instead, and
> a rigger protocol emulation module for your deck. May prove more cost-
> effective, as well as useful, in the long run. Even the rigger (if you
have
> one) could borrow a peek at the snake eyes equipped runner's POV.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention the campaign is set in 2051 ATM (we started in
2050) so none of that stuff exists yet... It might also be a slight
problem getting magicians to have this kind of cyberware installed in
their bodies, whereas getting them to wear a simrig won't be quite as much
trouble (I hope :)

++++++++++++++
Actually, I can't imagine most mundanes are real exited about blowing
a point of essence on what (usually) helps them about as much some good
communications equipment. Most samurai, at least, have a lot of other
things they would like to use that essence for.

Mongoose

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